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Friday, July 17, 2009

Missed Opportunity ?????

Last night while conversing with CHASTITY, Genealogywise, about her Jones line and my Jones line, I suddenly remembered my Aunt Martha telling me about a family, surname Gaynor, that I think lived in Texas that were our cousins. So, as I was looking for the information on the Gaynors, I reread a letter Aunt Martha had written to me in 1991 when I was in the early stages of this search. There it was just as plan as day yet somehow I've missed it all these years, the two cousins, Ophelia Hargett and Arbutus Carter, that were still alive and living in Martin County, Williamston, in 1991.

I immediately plugged Ophelia's name into ZabaSearch and to my surprise there was a match for an Ophelia Hargett in Williamston, NC. So I thought to confirm the ZabaSearch results that I would double check using Whitepages.com. No match. Not to be deterred, I decided to search census, birth, and death records, using Ancestry, to try to find Ophelia. No matches for birth or census but there appears to be a match for a Death Certificate.

Vonzella Ophelia Hargett

Female

Black

Non-Hispanic

78 years

Date of Birth - 25 Jul 1919

Birth County - Martin

Date of Death - 3 Aug 1997

Death County - Bertie

Is this the Ophelia that Aunt Martha referred to? I may never know but I'm not about to give up now because one of my goals when I started looking for my ancestors was a determination to reclaim lost lines of my family. Many years have passed since I first started my research and I ended up taking a 10 year break, (What can I say, life took over) but the need, the desire, to reclaim my kin is just as strong now as it ever was.
As I continue to hunt for my information on the Gaynors (where did I put it), I can say I've learned a valuable lesson here

No more 10 year brakes - At this point in my life, the ancestors cannot afford for me to take another break of that magnitude.

Always, always, go back and look at notes, documents, etc. - Now that I've awaken from my 10 year hiatus, I'm constantly picking up on things in documentation, notes, etc. that I never would have noticed when I first started. I really believe this comes with maturity as a genealogist. Unfortunately, many of us when we first began the journey do try to get back as far as we can as fast as we can and even now, I sometimes find myself falling back into that pattern. In the early stages of research, we don't often pick up on what appears to be an insignificant mention of a name, place, event because in those early days and years of research, unless it has to do with your direct line you aren't as interested. As you mature in your research efforts, you begin to realize that those insignificant mentions can be a goldmine of information and researching other branches of the tree can actually lead you back to your direct line.

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"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness."--Alex Haley

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